The cost of driving...

I was blog hopping earlier, and I saw LoriAnn's post about gas prices, which got me thinking. Do the rising gas prices make you feel trapped? They really are forcing me to think more about where I drive and how I use my car. I've been more conscious of where I'm going and what else I could do while I'm in that area. I won't just hop into the car to drive across town for a couple of groceries anymore. Yet, at the same time, I resent the fact that I have to think about these things. Yes, it's a good idea to do it no matter how much gas costs, but it feels like my gas tank is taking away some of my freedom. For example, while I'm working in Jackson, I'm about 30 minutes closer to a place that I could meet my friends Kate and Kevin for dinner or something, and when gas was cheaper, I've gone over there a couple of times and had a lot of fun. Now that gas is 3.69 (just hit that peak today), I can't really justify that anymore, which makes me sad. The price of gas is also going to make us really consider where we go for vacation this year. The last couple of years, we've gone out to Pennsylvania and Atlantic City and to Washington DC, but this year we might have to stay in the state just to be able to afford it. To make matters worse, our public transportation system is not a very robust one, so it would be impractical to try and use it to get anywhere. I'm going to start riding my bike to work in the next few weeks, but that only works when I'm not down in Jackson - biking 120 miles isn't really an option! So, my question for the day is: What kinds of changes are you making because of the pain at the pumps?